Our latest poll-of-polls shows that #Labour has bounced back into an overall majority and would have 365 seats if a general election were held now. The #Conservatives would be the opposition. #Reform drops to 4th on 57 seats behind the Lib Dems More here electoralcalculus.co.uk/pred…

Southwell (Nottinghamshire) Council By-Election Result: 🌳 CON: 45.3% (+7.8) ➡️ RFM: 26.0% (+1.8) 🌹 LAB: 14.5% (+1.1) 🔶 LDM: 12.2% (-7.5) 🌍 GRN: 2.0% (-3.2) Conservative HOLD. Changes w/ 2025.

It’s deliberate. She’s appealing to Labour in a ‘gender neutral’ way and is seriously after the Speakers job. I believe she is allegedly is the person who leaks stories to the media regarding the Speakers travel arrangements etc which results in negative media interest despite the fact that her own travel log and expenses make interesting reading. The Westminster journalist who told me this was fairly unambiguous in his assertion. Her actual performance in the debate was dreadful. Constant ‘look at me’ preening for the camera and interruptions. The Commons is a sad place these days.

I'm not voting for a Nigerian anchor baby nor am I voting for Nigel Farage.

Nothing highlights the fiscal failure of this government more starkly than the plight of Poundland. The chain's 600 stores and 12,000 workers sit on the verge of collapse, not because its customers have walked away - Poundland's sales grew by 6.7% in September - but because of this government's unaffordable tax rises, which makes it impossible to run a business that works on slim profit margins to keep its prices down for its customers. How ironic that a government preaching about helping the least well-off is forcing a company out of business that does just that.

The Chancellor is overseeing falling growth, higher spending and higher taxes. With no mention of new funding for our defence, #Budget2026 failed to meet the biggest challenges our country is facing.

In the reception room at number 11 Downing Street about to in to meet the Chancellor on energy bills to hear what's going on, expecting they're putting out an announcement at 7am and going to tell me about that.

CONFIRMED. Gas Standing Charges to be scrapped. I've just come out of a meeting with the Chancellor. The gas standing charge will be scrapped in 2027 (my guess, either for 1 Oct price cap or the 1 Jan 28 price cap). Having campaigned against the moral hazard of standing charges for years, I'm pleased. It's currently £108 a year. That cost will be shifted onto unit rates. We don't know how much yet, but I suspect just under 1p per kwH. The Chancellor also said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is 'trickier' apparently and will take longer. This is primarily about the price cap standing charges. There will still be an open market, so other firms can offer other forms of prices with or without the standing charge. My suspicion is that once it goes on the price cap, it will tend to be reduced on other tariffs as well. As for those on fixes: if you get a fix now, the rate of your fix is fixed, so this should not affect it. You will pay what you pay and if it has standing charges they will continue (some asking if they should delay fixing because of this, no if a fix is right for you and will save you money, don't let this change that - this is about the structure of bills, as opposed to the actual costs on bills). About 60% of people will pay less due to this, 40% more. My guesstimate is the dividing line will be somewhere around 12,500 kilowatt hours of gas (can't know until there is actual pricing). According to a study by Nesta, this switch would leave the majority of people in all income groups under £100,000 better off. Of course, when this does come in, if we're still in the nightmare that we are right now, there will need to be support put in for vulnerable higher users, who will have to pay more. Though hopefully by then the mid-east will have calmed and energy prices lower. --------------- That's all long term. The biggest issue in energy right now is that we're expecting a 27% rise in the price cap in January. I asked the Chancellor whether he will be intervening on that. He told me I'd have to wait for the budget, but reading between the lines, yes, there will be an announcement today. Whether it's an increase in the Warm Home Discount, or whether it's council tax banned, or whether it's done via a payout for people in say council tax bands A-D as a proxy for household income as Rishi Sunak did who knows.

CONFIRMED. Gas Standing Charges to be scrapped. I've just come out of a meeting with the Chancellor. The gas standing charge will be scrapped in 2027 (my guess, either for 1 Oct price cap or the 1 Jan 28 price cap). Having campaigned against the moral hazard of standing charges for years, I'm pleased. It's currently £108 a year. That cost will be shifted onto unit rates. We don't know how much yet, but I suspect just under 1p per kwH. The Chancellor also said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is 'trickier' apparently and will take longer. This is primarily about the price cap standing charges. There will still be an open market, so other firms can offer other forms of prices with or without the standing charge. My suspicion is that once it goes on the price cap, it will tend to be reduced on other tariffs as well. As for those on fixes: if you get a fix now, the rate of your fix is fixed, so this should not affect it. You will pay what you pay and if it has standing charges they will continue (some asking if they should delay fixing because of this, no if a fix is right for you and will save you money, don't let this change that - this is about the structure of bills, as opposed to the actual costs on bills). About 60% of people will pay less due to this, 40% more. My guesstimate is the dividing line will be somewhere around 12,500 kilowatt hours of gas (can't know until there is actual pricing). According to a study by Nesta, this switch would leave the majority of people in all income groups under £100,000 better off. Of course, when this does come in, if we're still in the nightmare that we are right now, there will need to be support put in for vulnerable higher users, who will have to pay more. Though hopefully by then the mid-east will have calmed and energy prices lower. --------------- That's all long term. The biggest issue in energy right now is that we're expecting a 27% rise in the price cap in January. I asked the Chancellor whether he will be intervening on that. He told me I'd have to wait for the budget, but reading between the lines, yes, there will be an announcement today. Whether it's an increase in the Warm Home Discount, or whether it's council tax banned, or whether it's done via a payout for people in say council tax bands A-D as a proxy for household income as Rishi Sunak did who knows.

In the reception room at number 11 Downing Street about to in to meet the Chancellor on energy bills to hear what's going on, expecting they're putting out an announcement at 7am and going to tell me about that.

Not abolished - transferred onto the unit price. So that larger households - i.e. those with children - pay more. The punitive cost of raising the next generation of citizens and taxpayers rises once again.

There is nothing socialist about a system of free movement that is used by multi-nationals to undermine wages. WATCH my Brexit speech today.

Consultant doctors in England to strike next month bbc.in/4sq04uR

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Education is important. Knowing physics is important.

🚨 WATCH: Nigel Farage blames "staff incompetence" for a half empty hall at Reform UK's event in London